Opposition to data centers has surged, with 75% of Americans now opposing such facilities in their areas—up from 42% last year. Politicians from both parties, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, are reversing their previous support for data centers as midterms approach.
Meanwhile, tech leaders and conservative figures are pushing a narrative that China is behind the anti-data center sentiment. X announced in late August that it had identified 200 accounts linked to China spreading anti-data center talking points, prompting headlines like "China is secretly fueling America's data center rage" and a Truth Social post from President Trump claiming "China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement."
In the spring, right-wing policy reports blamed the Chinese Communist Party for seeding anti-data center narratives, and in June OpenAI banned users it said were linked to the Chinese government and "testing narratives against AI infrastructure." However, China experts say claims of Chinese influence are based on "thin evidence" with "precious little hard evidence," leaning heavily on insinuations and assumptions rather than proof.